The Black Management Forum has labelled the SA corporate space as being anti-black leadership following the sudden resignation of Daniel Mminele, Absa bank’s first black CEO.
Absa announced yesterday that Mminele, who has been at the helm for roughly 16 months, will part ways with the institution by the end of April. In a statement yesterday, the bank said the decision to go their separate way was triggered by a different strategic view that it had with Mminele.
“The parties have not managed to achieve alignment in relation to the group’s strategy and the culture transformation journey,” said the bank’s group chairman Wendy Lucas-Bull in a statement released yesterday.
Mminele joined the bank as group chief executive in January last year and, with his expertise as the former deputy governor of the Reserve Bank, led the group through the Covid-19 crisis while introducing a transformative approach to banking.
“Last year, Absa delivered a comprehensive customer and client relief package, and provided support and relief to public health authorities and communities respectively across all its African markets, while delivering a resilient and respectable financial performance under difficult conditions. It is a matter of considerable regret that we reached this position. The parting of ways merely reflects divergent professional views and approaches, and is on a 'no fault' basis,” said Mminele.
However, Black Management Forum's president Andile Nomlala said Mminele’s “unceremonious” departure was worrying as it indicated bad treatment that black professionals were experiencing in the private sector and at state-owned enterprises (SOEs).
“There is a clear cannibalisation of black professionals. It started with the SOEs and now its prevalence is showing its ugly head in the private sector. What is worse with the private sector is that the transformation outlook that we want to see, particularly in the financial service sector, is a far cry from the expectations of the 27 years of democracy.”
Nomlala said they will launch a probe into the circumstances leading to Mminele’s resignation.
“We will leave no stone unturned. The writing is on the wall and Absa is a very untransformed animal. This is not about Mminele but about the future our children," Nomlala said.
He said there was an obvious "lack of respect shown to black professionals by the private sector" which Nomlala said has been prevalent since during former president Thabo Mbeki's tenure.
"We have lost two black executives in a space of a few months, including Basani Maluleke from the African Bank. We need to fight with everything we have. If we don’t revolt, what other options do we have?
“It doesn’t really matter to us what caused his resignation. We have seen it that if you are black, whether you are competent or not, you are always treated with suspicion. Absa will answer to our own satisfaction. If they don’t, then they will have to suffer the consequences of a backlash from black professionals. We have a situation where the private sector tells us that there is no single competent [Black] African that can lead it.”
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